Colder and louder blew the wind, A gale from the north-east And the billows frothed like yeast. Down came the storm, and smote amain, The vessel in its strength; She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, Then leaped her cable's length. "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, And do not tremble so, For I can weather the roughest gale, That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat Against the stinging blast; He cut a rope from a broken spar, And bound her to the mast. "O father! I hear the church bells ring, say, what may it be?" ""Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!" And he steered for the open sea. "O father! I hear the sound of guns, O say what may it be?" "Some ship in distress, that cannot live In such an angry sea!" “O father! I see a gleaming light, O say what may it be?" But the father answered never a word, A frozen corpse was he. Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, With his face to the skies, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow On his fixed and glassy eyes. Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed That saved she might be ; And she thought of Christ who stilled the wave, And fast through the midnight dark and drear. Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP. And ever the fitful gusts between The breakers were right beneath her bows, And a whooping billow swept the crew She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks they gored her side Her rattling shrouds all sheathed in ice, At day-break on the bleak sea-beach, To see the form of a maiden fair, The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes; And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed, On the billows fall and rise. Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow! Christ save us all from a death like this, On the reef of Norman's Woe! 211 LONGFELLOW. XXIV. THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP. "AND I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."-Rev. xx. 12 and 13. WHAT hidest thou in thy treasure-caves and cells, We ask not such from thee. Yet more, the depths have more! What wealth untold -Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main! Yet more, the depths have more! Thy waves have rolled Sand hath filled up the palaces of old, Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry! -Dash o'er them, ocean! in thy scornful play- Yet more! the billows and the depths have more! Give back the lost and lovely! those for whom To thee the love of woman hath gone down, MRS. HEMANS, THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE. XXV. FORMS OF PRAYER AT SEA. 213 "As soon as the conquest was completed, Nelson sent orders through the fleet to return thanksgiving in every ship for the victory with which Almighty God had blessed His Majesty's arms. The French at Rosetta, who with miserable fear beheld the engagement, were at a loss to understand the stillness of the fleet during the performance of this solemn duty; but it seemed to affect many of the prisoners, officers as well as men: and graceless and godless as the officers were, some of them remarked, that it was no wonder such order was preserved in the British navy, when the minds of our men could be impressed with such sentiments after so great a victory, and at a moment of such confusion."-Southey's Life of Nelson. To kneeling worshippers no earthly floor Of a storm-shattered vessel saved from wreck WORDSWORTH. XXVI. THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE. "THE Royal George was a first-rate man-of-war, of one hundred guns, overset off Spithead while at anchor, by the guns rolling to one side, and suddenly going down. By this dreadful catastrophe, Admiral Kempenfeldt, and a crew of many hundreds of seamen and marines, with nearly a hundred women, and two hundred Jews and others on board, were drowned, June 28, 1782. A few persons only were saved, nearly a thousand perished. By the use of the diving-bell, this ship was surveyed, imbedded in the deep, in May 1817, et seq., since when several successive gunpowder explosions have brought up numerous portions of the wreck."-Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. TOLL for the brave! The brave that are no more! Eight hundred of the brave, And laid her on her side. A land-breeze shook the shrouds, Brave Kempenfelt is gone, His sword was in its sheath, Weigh the vessel up, Once dreaded by our foes! The tear that England owes. Her timbers yet are sound, And she may float again, Full charged with England's thunder, But Kempenfelt is gone, His victories are o'er; 1. What other phrases are used instead of fast by? COWPER. 2. Heel is a nautical phrase signifying to incline or lean. XXVII. THE SEA. "In general, the sea is considered only in a terrible point of view; without reflecting on the wonders and blessings it so visibly presents We cannot, indeed, deny that the sea is a most formidable element, when its waves swell mountain high, and the tempest to us. |